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United States Patent |
6,039,598
|
Ciavarella
|
March 21, 2000
|
Electric equipment interconnection
Abstract
An improved interconnection for use with electric power equipment, and more
particularly with electric power rotary lawn mowers, is disclosed. The
interconnection includes a connection apparatus that has a loop that
slides over a rod that extends between the two handle bars of the lawn
mower. The connection apparatus also includes an access slot for receiving
a looped portion of an extension cord and a tab for releasably connecting
the extension cord to the connection apparatus. The connection apparatus
allows the power cord and extension cord to freely move back and forth
along the rod between the two tubes of the lawn mowers handle bars. In an
alternate embodiment, the rod 50 may have an extended W-shaped to provide
a greater distance along which the connection apparatus may move.
Inventors:
|
Ciavarella; Nicholas (Cleveland, OH)
|
Assignee:
|
MTD Products Inc. (Cleveland, OH)
|
Appl. No.:
|
013155 |
Filed:
|
January 26, 1998 |
Current U.S. Class: |
439/451; 439/367; 439/540.1 |
Intern'l Class: |
H01R 013/58 |
Field of Search: |
439/458,367,540.1,373,451,452
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
4610494 | Sep., 1986 | Schauber | 439/369.
|
5549482 | Aug., 1996 | Langlais et al. | 439/373.
|
5593312 | Jan., 1997 | McCracken | 439/369.
|
5885098 | Mar., 1999 | Witkowski | 439/369.
|
Primary Examiner: Bradley; Paula
Assistant Examiner: Davis; Katrina
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Emerson & Associates, Emerson; Roger D., Bennett; Timothy D.
Claims
I claim:
1. An electric apparatus comprising:
a deck;
first (11) and second (12) handle bars extending from said deck;
a rod (50) operatively connected to said first and second handle bars;
a power receiver adapted to receive power through an associated extension
cord plugged into an external source of power; and,
a connection member fixedly connected to said power receiver for use in
connecting said power receiver to the associated extension cord, said
connection member comprising:
a body;
a first opening in said body for slidingly receiving said rod, said
connection member thereby being slidable along said rod;
a second opening in said body adapted to selectively receive a loop of the
associated extension cord; and, a tab over which the loop of the
associated extension cord may be looped, said tab protruding from said
body.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first opening is located above
said tab.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first opening is located above
said second opening.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said power receiver comprises:
a plug for plugging the electric apparatus into the associated extension
cord, the connection member further comprising:
a third opening for fixedly connecting said plug to the connection member.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said rod (50) has a length L and said
first (11) and second (12) handle bars are separated by a distance D that
is less than or equal to said length L.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said power receiver has a power cord
having a first end connected to said plug, said power cord having a length
that is greater than or equal to said distance D such that said connection
member is slidable along the entire length L of said rod (50).
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said first and second handle bars lie
within a plane and a portion of said rod does not lie within said plane.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
a switch for selectively switching power to the apparatus, said switch
being operatively connected to said power receiver.
9. A apparatus of claim 8, wherein said electric apparatus is a mower
comprising:
a cutting blade operatively associated with said deck; and,
a motor for use in rotating said cutting blade.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said power cord has a second end
operatively connected to said motor.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said connection member hangs from said
rod and is substantially perpendicular to the ground while being slidable
along said rod.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said tab is substantially
perpendicular to said body of said connection member.
13. Connection member for use in connecting an associated electric
apparatus to an external source of power comprising:
a body;
a first opening in said body, said first opening adapted to slidingly
receive a member of the associated electric apparatus, said connection
member thereby being slidable along the member of the associated electric
apparatus;
a second opening in said body adapted to selectively receive a loop of an
associated extension cord plugged into an external source of power; and,
a tab over which the loop of the associated extension cord may be looped,
said tab protruding from said body.
14. The connection member of claim 13 wherein said first opening is located
above said second opening.
15. The connection member of claim 13 wherein said first opening is located
above said tab.
16. The connection member of claim 13 wherein the associated electric
apparatus has a plug for plugging the electric apparatus into the
associated extension cord, the connection member further comprising:
a third opening for fixedly connecting said plug to the connection member.
17. A method of connecting an electric apparatus to a source of external
power comprising the steps of:
providing an electric apparatus that has a power receiver for receiving
power and a member;
providing a connection member that has a first opening for slidingly
receiving the member of the apparatus, a second opening and a tab;
sliding the connection member onto the member of the apparatus;
providing an extension cord that is plugged into an external source of
power;
forming a loop in the extension cord;
threading the loop of the extension cord through the second opening;
looping the loop over the tab; and,
connecting the power receiver to the extension cord.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein the apparatus has at least one handle
bar, immediately before the step of connecting the power receiver to the
extension cord, the method further comprising the step of:
winding the extension cord around a handle bar of the apparatus.
19. The method of claim 17 wherein the power receiver comprises a plug for
plugging the electric apparatus into the extension cord, the step of
connecting the power receiver to the extension cord comprising the step
of:
plugging the plug into the extension cord.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the connection member comprises a third
opening for fixedly connecting the plug to the connection member,
immediately after the step of sliding the connection member onto the
member of the apparatus, the method further comprising the step of:
connecting the plug into the third opening.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an improved interconnection for use with electric
powered equipment, more particularly in the preferred embodiment an
electric powered rotary lawn mower.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric lawn and garden equipment-like mowers are coming into increasing
utilization as environment, noise, and other types of government controls
are coming into existence. Further, as technology advances, these units
can be made smaller and lighter than in the past. In addition to the
above, there is also the matter that some consumers prefer electric
powered devices for their ease of maintenance, lack of noise, and other
perceived advantages over their gasoline powered counterparts.
One distinct disadvantage of electric power devices is the extension cord
which interconnects them to the source of power; typically a long
extension cord leads back to the operator's house. This cord is a source
of certain annoying properties, most particularly that it can hinder the
operator. For this reason, a number of ways have been developed to
interconnect the extension cord to the device so as to automatically
position the extension cord out of the operator's way. An example of this
is to have a loop or special part located between the extension cord and
the handle bar tubes of the device--thus interconnecting the extension
cord to the device as well as providing some sort of stationery, or
side-to-side moving displacement means to locate the extension cord out of
the operator's way. These devices typically require a multiplicity of
parts and, in addition, are not always successful in the positioning
extension cord out of the operator's way and/or preventing separation of
the interconnection between the extension cord and the power cord for the
device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This object of present invention is to increase the usability of electric
powered lawn mowers.
It is yet another object of the invention to improve the interconnection
between the extension cord and an electric powered lawn and garden care
appliance.
It is yet another object of the invention to simply the mode of
interconnection between an extension cord and an electric lawn mower.
Other objects and a more complete understanding of the invention may be had
by referring the following description and drawings in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The structure, operation, and design of the invention would become apparent
on consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiment
invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a front side perspective view of the handle bars of an electric
lawn and garden care appliance incorporating the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 1 taken along lines 2--2 in
FIG. 1 and disclosing the critical distances in respect thereto;
FIG. 3 is an alternate embodiment of a control rod configuration taken
along line 2--2 of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 4 is an end view of the connection means of FIG. 1 taken generally
along lines 4-4 in FIG. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
This invention relates to an improvement for electric lawn and garden care
appliances.
The invention will be described in a preferred embodiment utilized with an
electric rotary lawn mower such as the 12 amp 19 inch rear bagging MTD
Lawn Mower Model 387, a 20 inch dedicated mulcher model 097, or the 19
inch side discharge model 427. Other appliances could be substituted.
These MTD rotary lawn mowers have a main driven electric motor powering a
rotary cutting blade underneath a stamped steel mower deck (all not
shown). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lawn mowers, in addition, include a
generally U-shaped tubular handle bar 10 extending rearwards off of the
back part of the mower deck in a conventional manner. This handle bar 10
includes two substantially parallel handle bar tubes 11,12 lying in a
single plane so as to form the main direction control for the lawn mower.
It also typically serves to mount operational controls such as electric
switches, etc.
The particular lawn and garden care appliance disclosed includes two
substantially 0.50 inch diameter handle bar tubes 11,12 extending parallel
to each other approximately 18 inches apart, the handle bar tubes 11,12
being joined by an integral laterally extending handle section 13 in the
customary manner.
The mower itself disclosed includes a power cord 20 of a relatively short
length formed with a integral connection member 21 on an end thereof and a
switch 60 on its other end. The switch 60 is fixedly mounted to one of the
handle bar tubes 11 in a manner similar to the foregoing mentioned MTD
mowers. In alternate embodiments this latter end of the power cord 20
could terminate elsewhere (for example at the motor housing).
In the particular embodiment disclosed, the power cord 20 has a male plug
22 formed integrally therewith at its loose end. In that the particular
unit disclosed is for use in Europe, the male plug 22 is formed with a two
plug, 230 volt DIN type plug interconnection. With differing types of
electrical powered equipment and/or different nationalities, the length of
the power cord 20 and the nature of the connection member could be varied
appropriately.
The extension cord 30 is typically interconnected to the device for
providing electric current to the device from a stationery source of power
40. In the certain prior devices, this interconnection has been
accomplished by wrapping the extension cord 30 around a separate
interconnection member, which interconnection member can shift from side
to side in respect to the handle bars tubes 11,12 of the device in order
to connect the extension cord 30 to the garden appliance handle bar tubes
11,12. This would be true whether the extension cord 30 is integral with
the power cord 20 or separate.
In the invention of the present application, there is a connection means 23
associated with the power cord 20 for selectively interconnecting the
extension cord 30 to such power cord 20. In the preferred embodiment, this
connection means 23 is formed integrally with the male plug 22 at the end
of such power cord 20. Further, in the preferred embodiment there is also
a loop 24 formed into the male plug 22 for slidingly interconnecting the
entire assembly to the cord control rod 50 which extends between the two
handle bar tubes 11,12 a spaced distance from the handle section 13 of
such handle bar assembly.
As shown in FIG. 4, the particular connection means 23 disclosed in the
preferred embodiment is a combination of a horizontally extending tab 25
in combination with a access slot 26. To operate this connection means,
the user forms a loop in the extension cord 30 a spaced distance from its
end and pushes the loop through the access slot 26. When a sufficient
amount of loop has been passed through, the user flips the protruding
section of the U-shaped loop over the tab 25 and gently begins retracting
the extension cord 30. This action locks the extension cord 30 over the
tab 25, and thus firmly but releasably connects it to the connection means
23. Other types of orientations and locations of tabs 25 and access slots
26 could also be used with the invention.
In this respect, it is noted that the two handle bar tubes 11,12 of the
handle bar 10 are spaced apart by a certain distance D, in the particular
embodiment disclosed by about 18 inches. In that power cord 20 has an end
fixed to the handle bars 11 (by the switch 60), it is preferred that the
length of the power cord 20 from the effective end of the cord (at 21) is
such that the loop 24 is free to travel down the full length of the
control rod between the opposing ends 51, 52 thereof before any separation
forces are placed on its interconnection with the power switch 60 (or
alternate fixed mounting location). For example, in the embodiment
disclosed, the forces are placed on the power cord's interconnection with
the switch 60. Since the connection means 23 and loop 24 are both integral
with the male plug 22 at the extreme end of the power cord 20, this would
mean that the length of the power cord 20 between the switch 60 and the
male plug 22 is equal to or greater than the full length of the control
rod (or about 22 inches in this example see FIG. 2). With this distance
orientation, the loop 24 will be free to travel between the handle bar
tubes 11,12 while not placing any separation force between the male plug
22 and the female socket 31 at the end of the extension cord 30 or on the
switch 60. Further, the mass of the combination of the connection means
23, the male plug 22, the loop 24, and the female socket 31 assists in the
sideward movement of the assembly by creating a large mass to exist at
this point. Further, the connection means 23 provides for a strain relief
between the parts of the lawn mower and any forces on the extension cord
30. This is particularly important if the long runs of extension cord are
being utilized.
It should be noted that the length of the power cord 20 may have to be
varied according to the particular application. For example, as shown in
FIG. 3, the "w" shaped cord control rod 50 is shown to be utilized with
the invention, which control rod 50 has ends which are located outside of
the handle bar tubes 11,12. The inclusion of this type of control rod 50
increases the effective length L of the control rod 50. This length L is
equal to the sum of all of the sub-lengths of the control rod 50. For
instance, in the "w" shaped embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the length L is
equal to the sum of L1, L2, L3 and L4. And, in the "u" shaped embodiment
shown in FIG. 3, the length L is equal to the sum of L1, L2 and L5. This
allows use of narrower handle bars while keeping the extension cord 30 out
of the operators path. In any type of control rod 50, displacement of the
center higher than the two ends (as shown in dotted line in FIG. 3) will
slightly add to the usability of the device by biasing the loop 24
outwards of the center of the device, thus retaining the loop at the ends
of the control rod 50 for a longer period than would otherwise occur.
Although the invention has been described in its preferred mode to a
certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that numerous
changes can be made without deviating from the invention as hereinafter
claimed.
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